There is interest in generating ultrashort, sub-nanosecond pulses that can be utilized in various areas such as directed energy, high resolution radar, wireless power transfer and biomedical applications. A conventional method for generating ultrashort pulse is pulse compression, which is a technique for converting a long duration, low amplitude waveform into a short high peak pulse. Pulse compression allows for significantly higher peak power to be generated from a source that is otherwise limited in peak power, which helps to improve size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the device. Pulse compression can be achieved actively or passively. An active pulse compression uses a resonant cavity with an embedded switch. Narrowband microwave energy is stored in this cavity at its corresponding resonant frequency. Once the switch is activated, a sudden shift in the resonances causes the release of the stored energy in the form of a short, high power pulse. A passive approach is to apply a dispersive waveguide such that the input waveform containing the inverse dispersion profile compresses into a short pulse.